A New Reign Redux
by Sivol
Summary: **This is a re-write** I didn't like how completely OOC I made Snape in the original story, so I am rewriting it. Some dark humor. - Just after killing Voldemort, Harry learns that he has several new powers. He decided to put those powers to use to change the Wizarding world for the better, but meets many hardships along the way. HP/SS Good!Draco, Powerful!Harry, Wizard!Dudley
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note: **_This is a re-writing of one of my older fanfictions, and as such many things will be different while hopefully some things will stay the same. I am trying to follow along the same major plot point as the last while keeping everyone more in character than they had been. A HUGE thank you goes to Maelgwyn who gave me not only the tips I needed to keep them in character, but the inspiration to rewrite it.

**Chapter 1**

The battle was raging on in the background as it had been for the last… well, Harry wasn't sure. It felt like an eternity to him. He knew it couldn't have been too long as it was still light out, but the setting sun would quickly be changing that.

He wondered briefly if it was a full moon tonight, and whether or not Remus took his potion. This moment of reflection on the man who wasn't even alive anymore cost Harry. He was knocked to the ground with a rather powerful flipendo. The next thing he knew, he was face-to-wand with Voldemort's anger. It was purely luck that one of the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes products happened to be set off nearby. Who set the prank firework off was anybody's guess. None-the-less, it was aimed straight for the two, and Harry used this to his advantage.

He rolled to the side and stared up at the incoming projectile, unwittingly alerting Voldemort of its presence. He used the moment that Voldemort turned to look at and stop the thing to move again, trying to get behind the Dark Lord so that he might have had the benefit of a sneak-attack. He scrambled to his feet, sprinted behind the man, and aimed his wand towards the pale head. As he spouted one spell, Voldemort managed to shield himself from the firework that went off with a large tongue wagging at him and turn that shield around so that Harry's spell bounced off of it. Harry, in turn, dodged the offensive spell that he'd cast.

At the same time, they both shot out curses intended to kill the other; one slightly more unforgivable than the other. Had either of them looked up at the moment, they would have noticed two key things. One, there was a jet of blue light heading straight for them. Two, others who were amidst the fight were looking towards them as the light they gave off in the dimming sunlight was awe-inspiringly bright.

The blue light hit. An explosion sounded. A stream of red overpowered a jet of green. The light was so intense that nobody, not even the two men involved, could see what was happening as a small black stream seemed to connect them for a brief moment. Just as suddenly as it had started, it ended and two lifeless bodies were thrown back from the point.

The fighting all around them ceased as members from both sides went to see the wreckage. Muttered wishes went around the field that their leader would be found alive. Only one such group was lucky enough for that outcome.

A splash of water on his face and the yelling of members from the Order of the Phoenix to get away from both bodies roused the figure on the right. He shook his head to clear the fog and looked to the wand in his hand. It had been broken. Soon the sound of chaos rang out fights broke out all over the field, both with and without magic. The victor stood shakily, looking at the damage he had caused. Voldemort was dead. Harry had won.

It was then that Harry noticed just how many bodies littered the field. Some were still moving, reaching out to be helped by someone; anyone. Most, however, were still. It took a moment for Harry to register that these people were dead. People that he knew were scattered amongst the area… people that he cared for - some that he even loved.

Harry ran. He didn't want to face the dead and the dying. He didn't want to be asked for pity that he might save them. He didn't want to look to the deceased and see a face of someone he knew, or worse watch them die. The young man simply ran.

He found himself in the Shrieking Shack, the place that he'd watched Snape die in earlier. This he could deal with; he'd already known the man was dead and it wasn't li- Suddenly a strange gurgling noise caught his attention.

Harry spun around on his heels, hand feeling around for a wand to draw and finding nothing. He was on the edge, fright obvious in his movements. "Whose th- Professor Snape?" He asked, disbelief enveloping his face as his hand dropped and he walked towards the body. He could barely make out the shallow breaths taken by the man in front of him.

The young man panicked. He was filled with a seething anger topped only by his need to do something… anything to wash the taint of killing from his hands. He did the only thing he could think of and grabbed on to Snape's foot, apparating them both to Hogwarts' wards. Casting a levitation spell on the man, he went as fast as the incantation would allow towards the infirmary. The ride was not a smooth one. "You're not allowed to die, you git!" He called out just before they reached their destination.

Bursting into the room he lowered Snape to one of the few empty beds and called over Poppy who was barking some orders at staff on loan from Saint Mungo's. When she saw him, her eyes lit up. "Mr. Potter! Word has been flying in that you had gone off to die alone like a dog! They're saying you just ran off." She said, hurrying over to him.

Harry pointed to the man who was staining the sheets a bright crimson red, ignoring the woman's statement. "He was bit by Nagini, he needs to be healed." He said. His urge to atone was taking over for the moment.

Seeing the state that their resident potions master was in, Madame Pomfrey nodded. "I will do my best, but I am busy. Go get me some gauze and bezoar. Oh- and fire-call Saint Mungo's to get more healers; we haven't got enough." She ordered.

Harry rushed off to gather the items that the medi-witch had required. In his haste, he realized that he had no idea which gauze to get from the store-room so he simply grabbed some of every kind, as well as the bezoar, and a pain relief potion just in case. He ran back to the infirmary to drop them off before calling up the hospital, and leaned in over Snape, his anger taking hold. "You still aren't allowed to die you bastard - I demand answers!"

"Mr. Potter!" The woman exclaimed. "Language, please." She continued on treating the gaping hole in the now unconscious professor's neck.

Harry gave a scowl and ran to the Headmaster's office. For once in his life, he was glad that Dumbledore wasn't currently in charge, as it would have been locked with a password had he been. He sprinted into the room and made his way to the fireplace, tossing in a handful of floo powder and calling out for St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries before sticking his head into the green fire. "We need more healers at Hogwarts; there just aren't enough." He called out.

A rugged voice came from behind a desk, "We've sent all we can spare!" A head popped up, and the old man looked to be exhausted. "You've got the best we have to offer and we're runnin' on men and women who've barely gotten into the field, make do with what you have!" He barked irritably.

Harry growled a bit, quite put off by the man's attitude. He pulled his head from the fire, and jogged on his way back to the infirmary. Upon reaching the doors, he heard someone yelling, "YOU LAY BACK DOWN THIS INSTANT!"

_It must be Madame Pomfrey._Harry thought to himself. Entering the ward, he saw that he was indeed correct, and Madame Pomfrey was yelling at an angry, confused Professor Snape who was trying to get out of the infernal place as quickly as he could. "What's he doing?" Harry asked, trying to help hold the man down by the shoulder.

"He's doing the same thing he does every time he wakes up in here; trying to get out!" Poppy said angrily. She then started in on a rather one-sided argument with the man who was giving her the nastiest death glare that Harry had ever seen.

Harry looked towards the man in a most disbelieving way. "No! You aren't getting out! I'll strap you down if I have to!" He stated, earning a glare. The glare only stayed fixated on him for a moment as it was soon replaced by a look of shock. Leather straps had come up out of the bed, holding the struggling man down. Harry let out a noise of incredulity. That was exactly how he was imagining it. Come to think of it, he'd been doing magic pretty much the whole time since his wand had been broken… He shook his head to clear the fog and set his own glare on the man. "You are going to do whatever Madame Pomfrey tells you to so you can get better. I have questions and you have to be alive to answer them."

Snape's black eyes stared at the boy for a moment. He tried to say something, but the hole in his throat proved to be making that impossible. Giving in, the man laid his head on to the pillow and bore his neck to the woman to make the healing quicker. In his mind, the faster this was over with, the faster he could get out of this infernal place.

"What did Saint Mungo's say?" Madame Pomfrey asked, shaking off the momentary shock and getting back to work.

"They said they were running low themselves and told us to work with what we have." Harry informed her. "Can I help?"

"Yes, hold this." The Medi-Witch said, shoving an armful of gauze into his arms and picking out two rolls to set aside. "You can put those away." She said, working with a salve as Harry rushed off to do as he was told. "Severus, you're going to be in a lot of pain unless you reconsider that potion. Just because it wasn't made by you, doesn't mean it isn't fit for you." She said, putting a salve around the hole to try and help speed up the healing process. Even with everything she knew, she didn't know of anything that would work like magic, so to speak, in healing a wound from this kind of bite. She wasn't even sure what kind of venom it was, but it had eaten away at the skin and her attempts at using charms made specifically for growing skin back wouldn't work.

The man rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, but again, words wouldn't come out. Harry looked on at this and thought for a moment. _Give him something to write with. _He tried, wondering if something would appear as the straps had. Nothing did. He frowned and decided to try something he'd seen from the shows that his cousin Dudley used to watch. He waved his hand whilst trying to mentally summon a quill and a parchment.

The items needed nearly broke the drawer of Madame Pomfrey's desk as they flew into his hand. He blinked and couldn't help the little smirk that filtered across his face. He removed the strap on Snape's right hand and provided him with the quill. He gave another wave of his hand and the parchment was charmed into a floating position, perfectly stationary as though it had a hard surface underneath it.

Severus began to write. _**Use the blasted potion. Pour it directly onto the wound, there's no sense in trying to force me to swallow it considering it will just fall out again. **_

Poppy nodded and did as she was told while Harry struggled not to make a face at the mental image he was just given of Snape turning into an actual living teapot.

_**When did you learn wandless magic? **_Severus demanded on his paper, fixing Harry with another of his patented glares. The glare was wiped away and quickly replaced with a look of pure anguish as the potion Madame Pomfrey was applying found its way inside of the wound and started working to dull the pain, but not before intensifying it. The sudden jolt had caused Snape to tense and break the quill.

Harry summoned another one with a growing ease and handed it to the man then banished the remains of the broken quill to the nearest trash bin. "I don't know, it just started after I killed Voldemort. He broke my wand and I didn't even think about it but I managed to levitate you to the infirmary from the wards." He supplied, hoping to get a confirmation on his current suspicion.

The dark wizard's eyes grew wider. _**Damn it all… **_was all he wrote on the paper.

"Professor Snape! Language, please." Poppy admonished, proving that she had been paying attention slightly to the man's side of the conversation.

Harry ignored her. "What? What's wrong with that?" He demanded. "That was going to be one of my questions was what did it mean."

_**Foolish child, use the space in between your ears that supposedly holds a brain and figure it out! **_

Harry let out a sharp bark of laughter then set in on the Professor. "I can't believe it… No, actually I can. You're lying there, dying on a hospital bed, and you _still _find the time to insult my intelligence. I've an idea of what it means, but I simply refuse to believe it until I have proof!" He said, his face growing hot with his anger. "Is that not something that you've been trying to teach us; to never accept things at face value?" He waved his hand and the restraint slipped back into place around the man's wrist. "It looks like _you're _the one who needs to use your brain. I'll take my leave and my quill and parchment. Should you feel the urge to communicate again, you'll just have to use your voice like the rest of us." He stormed off, banishing the writing utensils behind him.

* * *

It had been nearly a week since Harry had stormed off. He was still a bit angry at Snape for acting like a total and complete git, but he didn't let that stop him from going into the hospital wing every day and helping to heal those who needed it. He simply took to ignoring the dark wizard whenever he tried to garner Harry's attention.

Finally, the man managed to speak. He opened his mouth and out came a raspy painful sounding, "Potter."

Harry glanced up from the young woman whose cast he was cutting off of her arm. "Hold on just a minute Professor Snape." He called before finishing his job and giving the girl words of confidence. He went to go stand by the bed of his most loathed professor. "Well?" He asked, attitude in full swing and arms crossed.

"You took h-" The man coughed as he couldn't seem to talk too much without taking a breath. "His power… you took it." He managed to get out.

"Yes, so I gathered." Harry said as though they were discussing the weather or something equally as boring. "I am sure that's not all you wish to say…" He prompted, expecting an apology for the way the man had acted before.

Snape shook his head. Clearly the boy didn't understand just what he meant. "You have… his _power_." He tried again.

"You've already said that!" Harry replied sharply.

The dark wizard shook his head again, and motioned his head towards the restraint that held his right hand. Harry sighed and waved his hand, releasing the man's of all his leather bounds. Snape let out a grateful sigh that he was out of those blasted things and rolled up his left sleeve revealing the dark mark which had not vanished. "His power." He repeated, pointing towards the mark, hoping desperately that Harry would understand without him having to elaborate.

Harry's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wh-what are you trying to tell me?"

The man before him grimaced. "Your anger… it burns." He managed to get out.

Harry sat down in a nearby bed and tried to wrap his head around this. "So you're saying… that… that I have control over the dark mark?" He asked, receiving a nod as his answer. Fear flooded him. "How can you be sure though? Maybe what you felt was something else, something with good timing? Maybe it was… I don't know, but it can't be that, that's… that would mean-"

"Potter… Test your… theories… Be mad." Severus said, interrupting him as the professor in him seemed to take over for a moment.

Harry frowned as his fingers swept across the scar on his forehead. "How do you expect me to just _get _angry?" He asked. Really, the man should know that not everyone's emotions were as switchable as his own.

Severus growled and waved his wand, erecting a silencing barrier. "Foolish… idiot… Gryffindor… _Child!_"

That was the ticket. If there was one thing Harry hated more than anything else, it was being called a child - especially now that he'd gone off and killed another living thing. "You have no right to insult me like that, you don't know what I've went through, you don't KNOW what I have had to do t-"

Snape leaned his head back as his body tensed and he struggled to keep in the scream he so desperately wanted to release. It was just like the 'good old days' when the Dark Lord would call him. Harry watched in horrified fascination as the dark mark on the man's arm writhed and the skin around it grew red with irritation. Severus calmed some and resumed labored breathing. "See?" He asked, letting his head fall to the side and closing his eyes. He wouldn't be able to stand much of that.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Harry whispered as he tried to comprehend this.

It was then that a concerned Draco Malfoy entered into the infirmary. "Madame Pomfrey? Where's Potter? I don't think that the Dark Lord is dead…" He said, fright lacing his voice.

The medi-witch looked up from her patient. "What in Merlin's name are you talking about?" She asked with a frown. "Of course he's dead! Stop this nonsense; you don't need to upset the patients."

Draco shook his head and tried again. "No, you don't understand. I've been feeling my mark burn off and on through the whole week and it just did it again!"

Harry huffed, not thrilled on having to deal with the prat, but he did deserve to be told what was happening. It was the least Harry could do considering Malfoy was a spy for the Order. "Malfoy! Come over here." He explained to Draco the conclusion that he and Snape had come to and told him about the little experiment earlier.

It was Draco's turn to cast a glare. "Oh this just has to be some kind of sick joke." He said, clearly not happy by the turn of events and not wishing to believe it in the least.

Harry couldn't help the scoff that escaped him. Of course Malfoy was going to act this way. "What you don't believe me? Do something then; make me mad. You'll see." He said with an unsettling look on his face.

Snape's eyes grew wide. "Not again…" He pleaded; bracing himself for what he knew was going to come.

"It's the only way he'll believe me Snape, stop acting like a baby." Harry retorted, truly having no idea just how painfully the mark burned.

Draco looked at Harry incredulously and began shrieking at the young man. "You've absolutely no right whatsoever to talk to him that way! Do you know how many times he's saved your sorry arse, and you have the _gall_ to call him a baby? You're the child, Potter; yo-"

Ahh, there was the magic word. In a flash Severus was fighting to keep his vocal cords from acting against his will and Draco was on the floor whimpering and trying not to yell. "Believe me now you pompous little prat?" Harry demanded as his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Don't you dare call me a child! My childhood ended years ago, and I think that KILLING A MAN kind of seals the deal on that, **don't 'cha think**?"

He stopped and panted a bit, feeling a tingling in his scar. That was uncomfortable. His eyes widened and his face softened when he saw that Draco was actually crying on the floor and Severus looked just about ready to burst at the seams. His shoulders fell as a wave of something he couldn't quite place hit him. Both of the other men relaxed some and Draco tried to play it off as though he hadn't shed a tear. It was then that Harry realized he seriously needed to learn to control his emotions, or at the very least, learn to control where the anger went.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Ron and Harry were talking quietly in the hospital wing beside Hermione's bed as she slept. The girl had been wounded rather horribly during the battle, but thanks to Madame Pomfrey's ingenuity and natural instinct, the woman mixed together a rather potent potion that had almost healed Hermione. The girl was simply on bed rest at the moment and wasn't allowed to leave the hospital wing for a few days.

"I'm just glad you found her…" Harry commented, running a hand along his opposite arm. "I don't know what would happen if either one of you had died… I was so scared of seeing your name on that infernal list of the dead."

Ron nodded. "Yeah mate. We both feel the same way. It's why she was so buggy about not letting you fight this alone, she didn't want to see you die, and well… I gotta admit, you got real close there and I got scared. It's why I set off that prank from my brothers."

Harry looked shocked for a moment. "You're the one who set off the raspberry firecracker?" He asked, receiving a nod. "Ha! That was brilliant." He commented, dropping his arm and looking back to Hermione. "Well you probably saved me with that."

Ron grinned. "Aw yeah, I saved the savior."

Harry smirked and shook his head. "Don't call me that." He said, glancing down to the floor. He didn't feel like much of a savior; in fact he felt like he didn't deserve the title at all. When he glanced up again he saw that Snape was rousing. It was also about time for Malfoy to be finished with whatever Madame Pomfrey had called him in for. "Anyway, listen. I need to go have a conversation with Snape and Malfoy. They're not very forthcoming with some information that I know would help me. You get some sleep, yeah?"

Ron nodded and looked back to Hermione as she shifted position. "Just don't start hanging around them all the time; I don't want to lose my best friend to the snakes." Ron responded in a semi-joking manner. A pang of guilt hit Harry for what he was planning on doing, but he nodded towards the redhead. "Go, make them tell you whatever it is they need to tell you. I'll probably sleep on one of the beds in here if Madame Pomfrey lets me."

"Alright, see you later." Harry said, smiling weakly to him. When he headed off to Snape's bed, his face turned darker. He sat down beside the professor's bed and stared at the half-sleeping figure, but his attention was quickly taken away when Draco came out from the office with his oh-so-natural smirk. "Ugh…"

Madame Pomfrey was following behind the blonde, giving him orders on the routine for the professor that she'd laid out. "-and absolutely no alcohol for at least a week. He is not to even get within reaching distance of butterbeer. It will react badly with the potion, not to mention he's notorious for drowning himself in alcohol as soon as he gets out of a stressful situation." She lectured, wagging her finger towards the man in question. "And make him talk to exercise those vocal cords. We do want him to be talking normally again in two weeks' time."

Draco rolled his eyes before he turned to look at her. "Of course, Madame; I will endeavor to follow your orders to the very letter." He vowed with a bow and a heaping serving of mock-submissiveness.

"Snape's getting out today then?" Harry asked. He was surprised by the short time span that he had stayed. Only 8 days for something this serious? Shouldn't it have been more? Then again, this was the magical world and not the muggle one he was so accustomed to.

"Well someone has certainly been eavesdropping… Yes, in fact he is getting out today, under my care." Draco replied with his head held high. "Why are you even interested, Potter? Haven't you go-"

Severus interrupted his thought with a groan as he sat up and scowled. He didn't want to have to listen to the two young men prattle on about whatever petty things they could come up with to fight about. He then fixed his stare to the medi-witch. "I would… appreciate it if… you didn't go… around announcing… my personal habits… to the world." He retorted, still having to take rather large breaths every so often so as to speak without pain.

Harry looked back to the man. "I thought you were asleep." He said, wondering if the professor feigned sleep often and if it was some way to get information he wouldn't otherwise be privy to.

"I was sleeping… rather peacefully until… those two woke me." Severus grumbled, coughing into his fist before he managed to get up. It felt like he was inhaling smoke every time he talked. "Get me a lozenge… please." He requested, looking up to the medi-witch.

Madame Pomfrey nodded and went to fetch him a lozenge then quickly rushed over to another patient in her care that was calling out for her. Harry shook his head and looked back to Snape. "Listen, I need to talk to you and it is rather important." He tried, hoping that the man would help him.

"About?" Severus prompted, swallowing the lozenge. It was made similarly to the way that muggles made them, however it had a particular added benefit known only to the wizarding world; it was coated with a potion that would cover the throat for 6 hours. Severus couldn't help the sigh that escaped him as he readied himself to leave this blasted place. Eight long and arduous days he had spent in here, and _finally _he was being permitted to leave.

"Well, several things…" Harry mumbled, glancing to the side. "Things that I would rather be spoken of with privacy and without worry that someone might disrupt us."

"So you prefer my classroom… or my office?" Severus asked, gathering his wand and wobbling at first as he stood. Draco reached out to help him only to have the man pull his arm back and walk on as though he were perfectly fine.

"Er, I was thinking your room, actually." Harry said, hoping the professor would allow it. "Your personal quarters… I've always been curious as to what they looked like."

Severus stopped in his tracks and looked back to Harry with narrowed eyebrows. "What make you think… that I'll let you… in my rooms?" He asked wondering just what was going around in Harry's little head.

Harry's eyes flicked from one side to the other as he tried to come up with a reason. "Eh, if you don't…" He fidgeted before an idea struck and a smirk that wasn't suited for his face at all surfaced. "If you don't, I'll get mad, and you know what happened the last time I got mad."

Severus scoffed in pure disbelief and Draco clenched his hands at his side. "How dare you, Potter." Draco growled, voicing both his and his uncle's anger at the situation. "How _dare _you. You are supposed to be the one that stopped people who use physical pain to get what they want out of others, not the one to carry it on!" He couldn't hold the urge back and reached out to smack the young man.

Severus caught his hand before he could physically assault Harry. "Calm yourself." He ordered before moving between Harry and Draco. "You may ask your… questions in my office… at 7 pm. If you dare to… start using the… same tactics as the… Dark Lord to… try and control… or manipulate… myself or Malfoy… You can consider… yourself no longer in… my protection… permanently." He said with a scowl before turning the other way and leading Draco towards the dungeons.

Harry rolled his eyes in response and made his way towards the Great Hall. It was getting on towards dinner time anyway, and even though the classes weren't in session at the moment, the elves that had survived and come on to work there after the battle were busy at all times of the day helping clean the place up and cooking food for everyone.

He couldn't believe it, being compared to Voldemort like that! Geeze, he was just talking about making their marks sting a bit, it wasn't like he was planning on killing them or crucioing them! But then again… they did look pretty pained when they were all in the hospital wing before, and Draco had even fallen to the ground. No, Malfoy was overreacting, just as he did when Hermione hit him… but no, that couldn't be right, Draco was legitimately trying not to cry when he was curled in on himself.

He quickly quelled his own worries. It wasn't like the man had ever actively sought to protect him anyway. Well, there was that one time in first year when he was trying to save Harry from falling thanks to Quirrel. Not to mention that time where Snape had stepped between a werewolf and the trio. Actually, the more that Harry thought about it, the more instances seemed to pop up where Snape was actively trying to keep him safe. Hell, even when he was yelling at him once during occlumency lessons, he was trying to keep Harry safe from a false vision; something he knew Voldemort to be capable of.

Harry groaned. Snape had not lied to him, nor had he done so much as try to harm a hair on his head. Perhaps… perhaps Snape was telling the truth in that Harry was starting to get a bit cocky. Perhaps Harry was acting strange. Well, anyone would act strange when they'd just killed someone for the first time.

Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts. He needed this… he needed what he was going to request of Snape, and to get that, he needed to make it clear to Snape that he wasn't anything like Voldemort… he needed to apologize.

Ugh, apologize to Snape? The man was a total ass to him for so many years! Why should he have to apologize for anything? If anyone should be- no. Harry shook his head to clear it of his thoughts then sighed and went to go eat his meal then meet Snape in his office.

When Harry entered into Snape's office, he found that he felt much like he did when he had gotten in trouble during school. This made it rather easy to get out the apology. "I just don't know what came over me, I've been irritable since I ki- er… since the battle, and I don't mean to snap at people or get-"

"Be quiet Potter." Snape ordered, rubbing at his temples. "While I shall not… excuse your actions… or your words… I will concede… that we have all… been under large… amounts of stress. You need to learn… how to control… your emotions." He said with a glare that was more put on than anything. At the moment he could barely muster an entire sentence let alone a truly hateful glare.

The words did sting him a bit and Harry's posture reflected that of a student about to be handed an expulsion letter. "Yes sir." Harry said quietly.

Severus frowned and sighed with a slight eye roll. "On with it Potter;… what are your… questions?" He asked, rolling his hand as though that would somehow magically speed things up.

Harry shuffled into a seat and cleared his throat. "Well, I've done some thinking… one of the reasons that I'm- no that's now how I should phrase this… Just- why do you act like you hate me? You obviously don't or you wouldn't have saved me so many times."

Just as Snape was about to answer him, Draco came into the room and handed the man an envelope. When he didn't leave immediately afterwards, he received an eyebrow raise from the professor and crossed his arms. "Sorry Uncle Severus, but I want to know what has his panties in a bunch, and you can't give me detention."

"I can bloody well make you… do chores at home." Snape said with a narrowing of his eyebrows.

Draco shrugged his shoulders in response. "Fine, I'll do them." He said, pulling up the other seat in the room and staring towards Harry. He wasn't too sure how he felt about the young man, but he damn well wasn't going to let Harry insult Snape anymore.

Severus growled lowly. "Fine. You'll take over… the house elf's… duties for two days… after we return." He turned to Harry with the same stare as before. "I don't hate you... I dislike you... I saved you because you... were the hope of our world." He said in a half truth.

Harry wrinkled his nose. He felt like something wasn't being said, but still… He needed to do this right, he needed to ask his most important question, but he couldn't quite make himself yet. "Alright, I'll take that… but why do you push my buttons and make me angry so much?"

"Because you're easy… also you need to learn… to control your emotions."

Harry nodded and shifted in his seat at the mounting anxiety within him. "What powers might I inherit from… from whatever you'd call what I did with Voldemort? The stealing thing?"

Snape rolled his eyes. "You siphoned his magic, boy… call it what it is. As for what you might inherit… nobody knows the extent… of his full potential… You must find that out… on your own."

Harry nodded half expecting that answer or something similar. He ruffled his hand through his hair and tried to look around the room, looking at everything but the two men beside him. He swallowed and cleared his throat, finally looking back to Snape, and he spoke in a rushed breath. "Can I live with you?" He asked, staring at Snape as the man's stone cold demeanor changed to confusion. "Please?"

Draco was the first to speak as Severus was still trying to grasp the question that had just been asked of him. "Why on earth would you want to live with us? You hate us!" He said as though he were reminding himself that Potter did disdain them both.

Harry shook his head and looked back to him, using Snape's own words. "I don't hate you, I dislike you." He stated before a sigh escaped him. He leaned back into the chair. "I can't go back to the Dursleys', I mean I promised them they wouldn't have to deal with me ever again, not to mention they _do _hate me. Sirius' house is out of the question because what's left of the Order is still using it as a base of operations and I don't want to be involved- no I can't be involved in Order business 24/7, it would drive me insane! I can't go to the burrow, I mean what with Fred and all… not to mention Ginny keeps trying to bait me into asking her to marry me." He glanced up to the ceiling and felt himself sinking into the chair. "I know that you both dislike me, and quite frankly I'm not fond of either of you, but that's what makes this perfect. Neither of you care for my fame so you wouldn't be after that or my name, I wouldn't have to worry about being bribed into marrying or conceiving with one of your relatives, plus I'd pay you guys. I have the money." He closed his eyes expecting a resounding 'no'.

The only thing he heard, however, was a steady voice with an underlying curiosity. "How much?"

Harry sat up straighter. "Wh- how much? Oh, rent, right. Ehh, 10 galleons a week?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Severus' demeanor seemed to change a bit and he straightened. "I'm unsure… having to put up… with the likes of you… for average rent?" He asked rather snidely.

Harry narrowed his eyes at the man. "I'll make it worth your while Snape. One of the 10 Potions Masters alive died recently, left everything in his vaults to the 'Boy-Who-Lived'. There is an entire vault's worth of potion ingredients, some quite rare that I've never even heard of, just waiting for another Potions Master to use them. The vault is yours if you agree." He said, trying to sweeten the deal some for the man. He could barely believe that Snape was even considering this.

Severus glanced to Draco and motioned his head silently to Harry. Draco gave a bewildered look and shrugged. Severus looked back to Harry and interlaced his fingers, giving a curt nod. "It's a deal. 10 galleons a week… plus the vault."

Draco snorted almost inaudibly before looking to Harry. "You need a new wardrobe if you're to be seen 'palling around' with me or uncle Severus. You look like a street urchin." He commented, his nose held high in the air.

* * *

It was at Gringotts that Harry met with someone he would rather not have had to have dealt with. One such goblin had survived the attack from Voldemort simply by laying down and pretending to be dead. Amidst the chaos and strewn killing curses, count was lost, and by pure chance Griphook had managed to outsmart the Dark Lord. Harry was still quite cross at the goblin for leaving him and his two best friends stranded in Bellatrix's vault. It took all of the willpower he had not to whip his wand out right then and there to smite the creature.

Griphook must have known because as soon as he saw Harry, his face fell and he tried his best to make a hasty retreat to the back room. He was subsequently pushed back out by a transfer manager and made to take Mr. Potter's transaction. He approached the powerful and angry wizard tentatively. "M-Mister Potter." He greeted, not daring to look up into Harry's eyes.

Harry growled lowly. Of course this goblin of all goblins was the one to help him now. He mentally gave a resounding swear at fate for pairing them off like this. Ah well, down to business. "I want to give Severus Snape a key to vault 682." He stated, his tone meant to be taken seriously.

The goblin eyed Snape then Harry warily. "You wish to give a known Death Eater a key to your potions vault?" He asked, ensuring that he'd heard correctly.

"He wasn't a Death Eater!" Harry snapped irritably. "He was a spy for the light, and that is not the point. It is not your place to question me or my motives. Key. Snape. Now."

Griphook's eyes immediately shot to the floor. "As you wish, Lord Potter… but, you need identification. Present yo-"

Harry interrupted him by holding his hand up. "My wand was broken in the final battle. What more identification do you need than the scar upon my head?"

"Well, you see, there are protocols and-"

Harry leaned in, silencing the goblin with a glare. "If I am not given a key my vault, then every single goblin here, transfer or not, will know all about how you left the savior stranded in Gingotts' depths to fend off not only bank security, duplicating items, and what can only be described as a giant maze, but a _dragon_ as well. Do I make myself clear?" He hissed.

Griphook nodded feverishly and scuttled off to do as Harry had requested. Draco simply raised his eyebrow at Harry, not having heard that last bit. "I didn't know you were a Lord." He said with a half sneer.

"What did you expect to happen to the Potter name once I came of age? That it would just up and disappear? Not to mention all of the wills dedicated to the 'Boy-Who-Lived'. Of course I'm a Lord." He answered, glancing to the door as Griphook returned with a small box. "I want to make a withdrawal as well. Malfoy, how much are we going to need for a new wardrobe?"

"With the rags you wear," Draco retorted. "Probably need at least 300 galleons." He said, looking down to his fingernails with a bit of a smirk that he was trying to hide. "We are going to be replacing everything after all, and since you're a Lord, you ought to dress like one." He brushed his nails against his robes and glanced up to Harry with a raised eyebrow.

"Fine," Harry replied, not showing any reaction to the blonde's snide nature. "Griphook, get me 500 galleons as well." He handed his pouch to the goblin.

As the pouch was being filled, Griphook couldn't seem to stop himself from speaking again. "Lord Potter, your relationships with the known Death Eaters are most questionable."

"Not only is it not your place to question my intentions as it is _my _life, it is also completely rude of you to keep calling them Death Eaters. We've been through this, spies for the light… that being said, I completely agree that any kind of relationship with either of them bears more questions than not." He said, eying Draco from the side.

Draco simply scoffed. "At least I'm not the one in dire need of a new look. You've all the fashion sense of a blast-ended skrewt."

Severus looked on in a very slight amusement at the barbs and jabs the two young men shared. He silently wondered just what he was getting himself into. Once Harry was finished, they left the bank and fended off curious passers-by on the way to Madame Malkin's. It seemed that no matter how many times Harry tried to tell the people that he didn't work alone, nobody seemed to hear that and they all thought the boy was solely responsible for the downfall of the Dark Lord.

When they did reach the shop, Snape closed the doors behind them and locked them as well. The locking charm alerted Madame Malkin, who trotted out of her storage room with her wand drawn. "What reason have you locked my doors?" She demanded before even seeing who was there.

Harry stepped forward and lay the blame solely on himself. "That was my fault, Ma'am… people were hoarding around me and I couldn't get anywhere. I just wanted to go shopping." He said, giving her a half-pitiful look.

Her demeanor changed and she nodded, slipping the wand into her robes. "Why didn't you just say so, dearie? What can I do for you?"

Harry stepped back again, pushing Draco forward who needed very little prompting. "Lord Potter wishes to purchase a new wardrobe to accompany his title." He said rather haughtily.

They soon got to work and yet again Severus found himself snickering at the two and their feud, although really it was nothing more than schoolboys in a pissing contest. He stopped, however, in the middle of Harry's measurements as his arm had started to… to tickle. He gave a perplexed look to Draco who was confusedly rubbing his own arm as well.

That was a sensation that surely no Death Eater alive or dead had ever felt before. Tickling coming from their marks rather than agonizing pain; well that solved one question… the Dark Lord had never been embarrassed. If Harry's face and its crimson shade were anything to go by, that would be the core emotion behind this sensation.

Snape moved so he was closer to Harry. "It seems as if your… emotions come through… _all _of them." He said before clearing his throat.

A small look of dread crossed Harry's face. "Oh that's bloody wonderful." He remarked with a shake of his head. "Should I start keeping a list and their effects?"

Severus gave a small nod of agreement before moving back to his original position. Harry and Draco spent the better part of the next hour and a half arguing over what fabrics were to go with what style of robes. Snape's attention kept wavering in and out, and quite frankly he was tired and sore, wanting to go home.

Currently the two were arguing over a silk length of fabric. "What's wrong with it?" He asked Harry.

"He only likes it because he's Slytherin!" Harry said, eying the fabric with a scowl on his face.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure that plays into it, but even you have to admit, it looks nice on you… brings out your eyes or something. Plus what about parties you'd be invited to?" He waved a hand dismissively.

"But it's silk! Nobody needs an entire ensemble made of silk." Harry argued. "It would get clingy and hot and- Snape, what do you think?"

Severus simply stepped back a moment before he gave a nod. "I agree… with Draco. It's good to have something nice… for formal affairs."

"You traitorous git!" Harry squeaked. "I bet you don't even own a scrap of silk clothing. Hmph." He complained, not wanting to deal with the necessary upkeep on it.

Draco simply grinned. "You obviously haven't seen his holiday wardrobe."


End file.
